The huge geothermal power potential of the U.S.

Geothermal is a stable & plentiful source of clean energy available all around the world, including in the United States (especially in the West). But that industry is still in its infancy and very little of that resource's potential is being tapped (a bit over 10 gigawatts worldwide, with about 3 of those in the U.S. and 2 in the Philippines).

More HERE.

2012 alt-fuel car sales demand solid

From HERE:

December 2012 alt-fuel vehicle sales continued to trend well ahead of 2011 figures and pushed 2012's sales of hybrids, diesels and plug-ins past the half-million vehicle threshold. Plug-in vehicle sales totaled 6,769 units for December, which was more than twice as high as a year earlier and just 15 units shy of October's monthly record of 6,784. Last year's plug-in sales, which were just shy of the 50,000-unit threshold (not including lower volume cars like the Tesla Model S) were spurred by consistent demand for the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug in and a late surge of sales for the Nissan Leaf battery-electric.

December sales marked a 45-percent increase from 2011.

US alt-fuel sales last month totaled 55,096 units, up from November's 46,216 vehicles. December sales marked a 45-percent increase from 2011 and represented last year's second-highest monthly total, behind March's 57,130 vehicles.

Energy studies

The Ethanol Decade: An Expansion of U.S. Corn Production, 2000-09 [PDF]: The recent 9-billion-gallon increase in corn-based ethanol production, which resulted from a combination of rising gasoline prices and a suite of Federal bioenergy policies, provides evidence of how farmers altered their land-use decisions in response to increased demand for corn. As some forecasts had suggested, corn acreage increased mostly on farms that previously specialized in soybeans. Other farms, however, offset this shift by expanding soybean production. Farm-level data reveal that the simultaneous net expansion of corn and soybean acreage resulted from a reduction in cotton acreage, a shift from uncultivated hay to cropland, and the expansion of double cropping (consecutively producing two crops of either like or unlike commodities on the same land within the same year).

The International Energy Outlook 2010 International Energy Outlook 2010 (IEO2010) presents an assessment by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the outlook for international energy markets through 2035. U.S. projections appearing in IEO2010 are consistent with those published in EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2010 (AEO2010), (April 2010).

Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE)

Hill Library recommends:

Use the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) to identify state, local, utility, and federal incentives and policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. DSIRE is actually two databases - one on renewable energy and one on energy efficiency - that you can search individually or simultaneously. There's also a section with information on federal incentives.

You can find incentives using an interactive map, or use DSIRE's summary maps or summary tables. Summary maps include grant programs for renewables, loan programs for renewables, rebate programs for renewables, PACE financing, and more. Summary tables include financial incentives for renewable energy, financial incentives for energy efficiency, and rules, regulations and policies for both.

There is also a library of reports, technical papers, and articles authored by DSIRE staff.

'SwitchGrass' is the Word

You'll recall a recent State of the Union address discussing SwitchGrass as a fuel supplement in order to make the United States less energy dependent on foreign oil. I was reminded of this by an e-mail from the Business Librarians' listserv, with these links:

Switchgrass ethanol: better than corn?

Switchgrass-to-ethanol comes out clean in study

A study published last week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) found that switchgrass contains five times more energy than it takes to grow it, which makes it significantly more cost-effective than corn. Switchgrass Yields Five Times More Energy Than is Used to Grow It.

Alternate Energy Blogs

I found a new gateway to a number of alternative energy blogs. The gateway is named AlternativeEnergyBlogs, which links to these sites:

The Bioeconomy Blog is devoted to the promotion of all key literature relating to biorenewable fuels, most notably bioethanol and biodiesel.
It will focus on the economic, environmental, medical, political, and social aspects of bioeconomy initiatives. The Bioeconomy Blog is a companion to The Bioenergy Blog, which is devoted to the technical aspects and technologies associated with production.

The Bioenergy Blog is devoted to the documentation of key literature relating to biorenewable fuels, most notably bioethanol and biodiesel. It is focused on the technical aspects and technologies associated with the production of these fuels. The Bioenergy Blog is a companion blog to The Bioeconomy Blog, which is focused on the non-technical aspects of bio-based fuels.

The Geothermal Energy Blog is devoted to the documentation of key monographic literature relating to all aspect of geothermal energy.

The Wind Energy Blog is devoted to the promotion of all key literature relating to wind energy and wind turbines and related technologies. It will also focus on non-technical issues as well.